Wire cutting tool



Feb. 23, 1943. H. w. ROMANOFF 2,311,695

WIRE CUTTING TOOL Filed April 25, 1941 H/PPOL V75 WHO/WA NoFF INVENTOR.

BY Wauw ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 23, 1943 WIRE CUTTING TOOL Hippolyte W..Romanofi New York, N. Y., assignor to V Cutter Corporation, acorporation 'of Delaware Application April 25, 1941, Serial No. 390,232

3 Claims.

My invention relates to wire cutting tools and has particular referenceto portable tools for cutting heavy wire.

My invention has for its object to provide a portable tool particularlyadapted for cutting barbed wire entanglement cables, steel wire, etc.,which will be light, strong and inexpensive for manufacturing, and whichwill have provision for greatly increasing the applied force so thatheavy wire can be cut with one hand. I provide my tool for this purposewith a double leverage, the levers being connected together by links.

Another object of my invention is to provide such lever arrangement thatthe force applied to the cutting elements or cutting jaws of the toolgradually increases as the cutting elements are moved together inaccordance with the increase in resistance to cutting when thecrosssectional area of the cut in the wire is increased.

My invention is more fully described in the accompanying specificationand drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of my tool in an open position, the closed oroperative position of the parts being indicated with dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the same; and

Fig. 3 is a diagram of the levers acting on the cutting elements.

My wire cutting too-l consists of an elongated member I preferably madeof a steel plate bent over at 2, the two portions being brought togetherwith a clearance 3 between them. The rear ends are joined together by aspacing block 4 and form a handle. Slots 5 are provided at the front atone side of the plates `for receiving work such as wire 'I to be out. Astationary cutter l is tted at the front between the plates, beingfastened as by a pin 8, the cutting edge 9 extending into the slot 5. Aportion I of the cutter extends to the outside for guiding the wire intothe slot.

A movable cutter II is provided in the rear of the slots, forming aportion of a lever I2. The latter is pivoted on a pin I 3, the longerarm I4 of the lever extending outside the member I and being providedwith a pin I5 for links I6. The latter are pivoted at II to a bar I8having a handle portion at the rear, the iront end being pivoted on apin I9. A spring is attached at one end to the front end of the bar I8,the rear end being held by a pin 2|. The spring pulls the front end ofthe arm I8 to the rear, thereby raising the handle portion as shown inFig. 1. The movable cutter is turned to the rear, leaving an open spacein the slots 5 for the wire or cable 6. The handles of the t'ool can beheld in an operators handand drawn together, causing the cutter I I toadvance toward the stationary cutting element I0 until the wire is cutin two.

The forc'e exerted by the fingers of the 'operators hand on the handlesis 'greatly multiplied 'by my arrangement of two levers, the leverageratio of one lever being multiplied by the corresponding ratio of theother lever. The levers are diagrammatically shown in Fig. 3. The leversare so arranged as regards their angular positions that the totalleverage ratio is gradually increased when the handles are movedtogether, thereby increasing the force applied to the cutters. Thisarrangement has an advantage in that the cutting can be done morerapidly at the beginning when the cutting area is small, applying agreater force at the endwhen the cutting area is the greatest.

As shown in Fig. 3, the projected length 2| of the lever arm I4 isrelatively short at the beginning when the bar I8 is raised, increasingto 2|' when the bar I8 is moved into the final position.

In order to facilitate the assembly of my device, I provide cotter pins22 and 23 for the pivot pins I3, I9 and I5, I'I, the other ends of thepins having flat heads.

A pin 24 may be provided for limiting the outward movement of the barI8. The front edge of the bar I3 can be made for this purpose to abutthe lever I4.

My tool can be conveniently carried in a pocket, is very light andstrong, and can be used for cutting heavy wire, cables, small bolts orscrews, etc.

It is understood that my wire cutting tool may be further modifiedwithout departing from the spirit of the invention, as set forth in theappended claims.

I claim as my invention:

l. A wire cutting tool comprising an elongated member formed of twoplates spaced apart and joined at the ends, the rear ends of the platesforming a handle, the plates having a transverse slot at the frontextending from the edges in a transverse direction for receiving a wireto be cut, a stationary cutter supported between the plate at the frontof the slot, a lever pivotally supported between the plates, the innerarm of the lever having a cutting edge at the rear of the slot adaptedto advance against the stationary cutter, the outer arm of the leverbeing substantially longer than the inner arm and extending outward fromthe plates opposite the slotted side, an elongated bar pivotallysupported at the front end between the plates at the rear of the lever,the rear end of the bar being shaped as a handle, and a link between theouter end of the outer lever arm and a portion of the bar at the rear ofits pivoting point, the link and the lever being pivoted together at asmall angle to each other, the link being substantially transverse tothe bar, the handles being adapted to be manually drawn together forcutting the wire.

2. A wire cutting tool comprising an elongated member formed of twoplates spaced apart and joined at the ends, the rear ends of the platesforming a handle, the plates having' a transverse slot at the frontextending from the edges in a transverse direction for receiving a wireto be cut, a stationary cutter supported between the plate at the frontof the slot, a lever pivotallyy supported between the plates, the innerarm of the lever having a cutting edge at the rear of the slot adaptedto advance against the stationary cutter, the outer arm of the leverbeing substantially longer than the inner arm and extending outward fromthe plates, an elongated bar pivotally supported at the front endbetween the plates at the rear of the lever, the rear end of the barbeing shaped as a handle, and a link between the outer end of the outerlever arm and a portion of the bar at the rear of its pivoting point,the link and the lever being plvoted together at a small angle to eachother, the link being substantially transverse to the bar, the handlesbeing adapted to be manually drawn together for cutting the Wire.

3. A wire cutting tool comprising an elongated member formed of twoplates spaced, apart and joined at the ends, the rear ends of the platesforming a handle, the plates having a transverse slot at the frontextending from the edges in a transverse direction for receiving a wireto be cut, a stationary cutter supported between the plate at the frontof the slot, a lever pivotally supported between the plates, the innerarm of the lever having a cutting edge at the rear of the slot adaptedto advance against the stationary cutter, the outer arm of the leverbeing substantially longer than the inner arm, an elongated barpivotally supported between the plates having inner and outer ends, theouter end of the bar being shaped as a handle, and a link pivotallyconnected at one end to the inner end of the bar; the other end of thelink being pivotally connected to the outer end of the lever, the linkbeing substantially transverse to the bar, the handles being adapted tobe drawn together for cutting a wire.

HIPPOLYTE W. ROMANOFF.

